Turistas

Alicia Scherson | Chile | 2009 | 104' |

Bright Future: VPRO Tiger Awards Competition

| IFFR 2009

The second film by Scherson investigates the tension between nature and society in a playful way. On her way to their holiday destination, it becomes clear to thirty-something Carla that her marriage to Joel brings her more sorrow than is good for both of them. As she recovers from their quarrel outside the car, Joel drives off. Rebellious and sad, Carla continues her journey on foot. At the Siete Tazas nature reserve, she meets the Norwegian backpacker Ulrik, who invites her to camp in the beautiful Chilean reserve with its seven waterfalls. Hopefully, calm and inexorable nature will bring her peace. But the park turns out to offer more than trees, water and beetles: there are also the unscrupulous nieces Susana and Susana and the park warden Orlando, a former top 40 star. In the mini society in the woods people fight, make love, party and badminton, while Carla concludes that the natural laws of Siete Tazas are not that much different from city life in Santiago.
In Tourists, Scherson combines her background as an observant biologist with her great cinematographic talent for details and furtive emotions. Scherson previously visited Rotterdam with her successful début Play. She is one of a striking group of young Chilean film makers and teaches film at the Universidad de Chile. Tourists, like Play, was made with help from the Hubert Bals Fund. (GT)